Question
Tinned food is key to being prepared for an emergency, as it can be eaten when there is no power to cook it. Does the Minister recognise that Tata’s Trostre steelworks, in my constituency of Llanelli, which makes the tin plate used by big-name manufacturers to can their products, is of strategic importance to our national resilience? Will he stress to his ministerial colleagues the absolute necessity of ensuring that conditions, such as energy prices, are competitive, so that we can secure a viable future for tin-plate production in Llanelli?
Answer
My hon. Friend makes a really important point, and I will make sure that colleagues in Government have heard it. She is right to emphasise the wider industrial issues at play here. She will know that tin cans were included on the checklist, and she is right to talk about tin production. I give her a reassurance that I will raise that with colleagues in other Government Departments.
Verdict: AMBER (57/100)
The Minister acknowledged the MP's concerns about Trostre and the wider industrial issues, but did not clearly state that the Government sees the plant as strategically important to national resilience. The reply does directly commit, twice, to raise the competitive-conditions point with colleagues in other Government departments. The MP would likely need to press for a clearer statement on the resilience question before they could consider it fully answered.
How we got there
| Question item | Coverage | Specificity | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Does the Government recognise that Tata's Trostre steelworks in Llanelli is of strategic importance to the UK's national resilience? | Partially Addressed | Hedged | The reply acknowledges the MP's point as 'really important' and 'right to emphasise the wider industrial issues', but never explicitly states that the Government recognises Trostre as strategically important to national resilience. The reference to tin cans being on the checklist only hints at a resilience-related framing without confirming the recognition asked for. |
| Will the Minister raise with ministerial colleagues the need for competitive conditions, such as energy prices, to secure a viable future for tin-plate production in Llanelli? | Addressed | Direct | The Minister explicitly commits twice to raise the point with colleagues in other Government Departments, which is the concrete action the item asks about. The reply does not separately name energy prices, but the commitment is to raise the competitive-conditions point the MP made, so the item is answered. |